Wednesday, June 11, 2008

First Look - 11 June 2008

The latest tests of the Shchuka Project (Akula 2) SSN at the Amur Shipyard at Komsomol’sk na Amur have been successful.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the boat will be commissioned into the fleet in 2008. According to experts, it will be the fastest and quietest multi-purpose submarine in the fleet.

In addition, the Caspian Sea Flotilla will receive the newest escort ship “Dagestan” and two small landing craft. This is according to the Commander in Chief of the Caspian Sea Flotilla Vice Admiral Vikto Kravchuk, speaking on front of the Makhachkala Brigade of Maritime Security for the Caspian Flotilla region on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. (See next article for further details.)

The celebration of this anniversary takes place with intensive preparations for the exercise “Caucauses-2008” in the background. According to the Admiral, “Now the ships of the brigade are charged with defense of shipping, supporting maritime commerce, guarding the fishing industry and development of the continental shelf”.

The escort ship “Tartarstan”, built in the Zelenograd Shipyard, was commissioned into the brigade in 2003 as well as the small “Serna” class small landing craft. Earlier, the CinC Russian Navy noted that “Dagestan” will significantly exceed the armament of the “Tartarstan”. The escort ship will perform search, surveillance and destruction of surface, subsurface and air targets. It is equipped with the universal strike missile “Uran”, with a range of 350 km, anti-air and anti-submarine defenses, special devices to detect and destroy torpedoes as well as acoustic detection devices. A Ka-28 or Ka-31 can be based on board.

The “Serna” class small landing craft can transport and land on an unequipped beach 45 tons of military equipment and 92 marines, a greater amount than other classes of landing craft. The “Serna” class is capable of speeds of 30 knots in sea states up to five while delivering a medium T-80 tank to a beach up to 1000km away. Additionally, the “Serna” is capable of getting itself off of bars.

Ships of the Russian BSF will participate in international exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, according to K1R Igor’ Dygalo, the press secretary for the Russian Navy.

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He added that the BSF escort ship “Ladnyy” has finished initial preparations for her participation for the second time in “Active Endeavor” in August 2008, a joint NATO anti-terror exercise in the Mediterranean Sea.

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He also said that the Black Sea Maritime Operational Group BLACKSEAFOR is planned for activation in August.

“From the moment of the creation of the BLACKSEAFOR group in 2001, BSF ships have operated with ships from other countries in the Black Sea littoral, carrying out missions with the goal of supporting security and stability.”